The Next Generation
by akatsukicolin
Summary: After the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, peace has been achieved in this world. But war is eternal, and will spread here from where it is welcome. How will the next generation of ninja handle these new threats?


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, as much as I would like to**

Kakashi jumped in through the open window of Naruto's apartment, and landed silently next to his bed. "Yo," he said softly whilst nudging Naruto to get up. Naruto sprang out of bed and landed in a defensive position, only to realise it was just his sensei that had arrived.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here?" he glanced at the clock. "It's like, 4 in the morning." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and grinned at the sight of his annoyed student, then remember why he was there and sobered up.

"Lady Hokage has called us and the remaining Konaha 12 to her office. She said that "it was a mission so sensitive that she couldn't trust anyone else to do it" and that "I swear to Kami that if he isn't here by quarter past four because of his complaining then I'll make him wish that he wore a groin protector the whole time,"" Kakashi said, wincing at the last part. Naruto had finished pulling on his black jumpsuit with two orange stripes down each side, when he stood up and smiled.

"We'd better get going then, hadn't we?" he grabbed Kakashi's shoulder and smirked. "Hiraishin no Jutsu!" he exclaimed, before winking out of existence.

Sasuke sighed as he pulled an arm protector onto his arm, covering up the burnt scars which mottled it. "Right," he muttered to himself, "Hokage tells me to get to her office by quarter past four or she'll castrate me, and I only have two minutes to get to her office. Hn, no matter, it'll just take a little more effort than I would have like to have used at this time of day." HE stood up and checked his equipment pouch and two swords which lay flat to his back, before jumping out the window.

As he ran down the empty streets, he glanced at the clock tower. "Damn, only a minute left. Gotta hurry up!" He sped up and turned a corner, only to find himself collide with an orange bolt and disappear.

Sakura, however, was less panicked. Tsunade had sent her a message the previous day and she had gone to bed early, and woken up at a reasonable time to get ready to leave. Unfortunately, the only reason she was less panicked was because she had fallen back to sleep after getting dressed as she had lain back down on her bed for a moment. Her alarm clock and gone off again, and next to her bed all that remained of it were a few springs.

Naruto flashed into the apartment and Sasuke glared at him. "Idiot! I had plenty of time to get to the tower before you intercepted me! Now we're gonna be late!" Naruto smirked and tapped Sakura on the shoulder.

"Wake up sleepy head," he whispered, before turning to Sasuke, "actually, I just thought it would look better if we showed up as a team, rather than _late_" he turned to Kakashi "individuals," he finished. Sasuke snorted and turned his head away, and Sakura groaned lazily.

"What?" she grunted, and then she screamed as Naruto planted a hand on her shoulder and Hiraishined away, grabbing Kakashi and Sasuke in the process.

_*In the Hokage's office* _

Tsunade tapped her foot impatiently and glared at the clock. "_Five, four, three, tw-_" Team Seven appeared before her in a flash, Sakura looking furious, Sasuke looking disgruntled, Naruto looking ridiculously happy, and Kakashi standing there uniformly.

"Lady Hokage, Team Seven report for duty," he said as his students picked themselves up off the floor and made themselves look presentable. Tsunade looked irritated, but as Naruto observed, she also seemed worried.

"Ah yes! My rival appears at last! I thought you were going to be late, but it seems as though you were fashionably on time!" Gai smiled brightly as he said this. "That was quite an entrance you made there! Next time we are called here together, I will be more fashionable than you, and make a more spectacular entry than you; otherwise I will run around the village 200 times with Lee chasing me!"

"Yes Sensei, if I fail to catch you, I will do ten thousand press-ups on each arm! And if I cannot do that, then I will kick the training posts 2000 times whilst standing on my hands!" Lee exclaimed

"And if you do catch me, I shall run to Suna and back within three days!"

"Gai-sensei, I could not catch you anyway, and if I could I would let you go so you would not have to endure the heat of the desert!" Gai drew Lee into a close embrace, crying.

"Lee, that is the most youthful thing I have ever heard you say!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sen-" Lee was cut off by a whack to the back of the head by Tenten.

"Guys stop! You're embarrassing yourselves!" Tsunade smirked and began to talk.

"Since the First Hokage mastered Sage Mode, skilled sensor shinobi have tracked spikes in natural energy from across the nations. We noticed that there have been two major spikes across history, one when the Jyuubi emerged, and then again when the First fought against Madara. Now there has been a third." She paused and collected herself. Special Jounin Shiraishi Atsushi returned from a solo mission reporting that he had found a large… presence in the forest. He claimed that he tried to get a better look at it, but it was hidden in a powerful genjustu." Hinata looked glum at this point.

"I-I wish that Kurenai-sensei was still here. She'd be able to get through that jutsu easily," she said sadly. The rest of Konaha 12 looked sadly down as they remembered what had happened.

_*flashback*_

_Madara had escaped from the war. Obito was struck down by the Hokage and had sealed them away. The Jyuubi was split up into its' nine Biju and everything was peaceful. Then, a year later, Madara had reappeared and began to once again terrorise the nations. Konaha 12, along with numerous other powerful ninja were dispatched to deal with him, but as it seemed he would win, Konaha 12 cornered him into a final battle. "Give up!" shouted Naruto "You can't escape now! We will win, like we did before and forced you to flee!"_

"_Kukukuku," chuckled Madara softly "Ah, jinchuriki, I have no intentions of escaping now. I shall imply crush you along with your pathetic dreams!" he ran forward, casting several hands signs as he did so "Fire style- Majestic Flame Destroyer!" The torrent of flames exploded towards them and was blocked by a rotation from Hinata, backed up by a water style jutsu from Ino. "Sweet Hinata, you never were very good at rotation, were you?" Hinata stiffened. "But Neji, that cousin of yours, he was much better at it. Such a pity he was killed trying to save you."_

"_Don't listen to him Hinata!" Naruto shouted, "Neji gave his life willingly to stop Madara, and now we must finish it to avenge him!" Hinata nodded, and ran forward, entering a taijutsu stance. Madara smirked, and his Rinnegan eyes flashed._

"_Universal pull!" Hinata was pulled off her feet and was launched towards Madara, the rest of the Rookie 12 struggling against the pull as well. Madara smirked "One down," he said as he prepared to finish her off, only to find he couldn't move._

"_Shadow Possession Jutsu success! Quick, strike now Naruto, remember the plan!" Shikamaru shouted. Naruto ran forward with a yell as Madara easily broke free of the possession and formed Susano'o around himself. Naruto entered Biju Mode and smashed into the Susano'o, weakening it, and a Susano'o sword pierced the back of Madara's Susano'o. Sasuke stood there, smirking as the sword passed through Susano'o, and landed next to Naruto. Naruto grabbed it with a chakra arm and infused it with chakra, enlarging it and ripping Madara's Edo Tensei body apart. "Seal him now," Shikamaru shouted. Naruto nodded and ran forward to where most of Madara's body was, and applied a 16 point seal to him._

"_I made this seal especially to bind you! Nothing can escape from this!" Naruto shouted. As the seal spread across his body, Madara's left eye snapped open._

"_Silly children. You honestly though you could win? FINAL SUSANO'O!" the enormous Susano'o exploded out of the seal and stood there, dwarfing Sasuke's. Kakashi grunted and pulled the headband up from over his eye. _

"_Nothing can escape my new eye technique! Ratestu!" Kakashi shouted as the space-time technique took effect. Madara looked at his hand; it appeared to be blurring and fading away. The same was happening all over his body, starting from the edges. Madara grunted in anger._

"_Seems as though my regenerating factor won't heal this. An interesting new Sharingan technique, I must admit," Madara mused. "But, like all things, it must come to an end. Tell me, children, have you ever heard of the Creation of All Thing jutsu?" Naruto nodded, whereas the rest of them shook their heads. "It allows me to create anything I want; the Sage of Six Paths used it to create the Biju. Now, let me show you its' true power. CREATION OF ALL THINGS; DEVESTATING HOPE!" as Madara shouted this, both of his Rinnegan eyes faded back to Sharingan, and he laughed "Even though this technique costs me my Rinnegan, I'll just take a fresh set of eyes from Sasuke when you die."_

_A small lump of earth rose from the ground, and Madara held it in his fist. "That's your legendary technique?" Gai asked "Seems rather too small to be of any use." Madara smirked as the shinobi surrounding him charged, hoping to get a blow now that his Rinnegan had gone. "Drat," he thought "This jutsu is taking longer to warm up than I anticipated." He dogded multiple blows, then made a few hand signs. "Wood style – Nativity of a world of trees," branches exploded from the ground, and he smirked as the ball of earth in his hand hummed. "It seems as though your end has come," he stated, and launched the lump into the air. They all stared at it as the wood style disappeared, and the lump expanded. Its' edges became reflective, and Sasuke swore. "Look away! It's a genjustu!" he shouted, but too late. Sasuke saw his worst nightmare come true, all his friends and teammates had abandoned him for his past actions. The other shinobi fell to the floor as well as each of them saw no reason to go on as they thought vision they saw was true. Madara smiled as Kakakshi's jutsu stopped. Only Kurenei, managed to stay alert. _

"_How did you manage that?" Madara asked, genuinely interested. She smiled slightly and said_

"_I thought all my hopes had already gone when Asuma died, but there is one thing stronger than anything you could possibly hope to achieve!"_

"_What is this?" Madara demanded thunderously._

"_A mother's love," she said, then cast multiple hand signs. "I'm sorry everyone. I can save you, but I can't save myself." She thought as she dropped a note out of her pocket onto Shikamaru. Madara scoffed. _

"_A mother's love? That is what keeps you going? Knowing the fact that your son will get killed one day eventually drives you forward? There will never be peace, and I will erase the need for hatred!" Kurenai ignored him and rushed forward, having finished her hand signs. Madara laughed again. "I don't even need to use my Sharingan to finish you. Majestic Flame Destroyer!" Kurenai ran through the fire, and flipped behind him, preparing to stab and seal him. But Madara, not even turning around, threw a kunai at her. He turned around slowly and smirked, but that smirked turned to anger when she blurred away and he felt hand grab his shoulder._

"_Not even you can defeat a god of death. Now! Reaper Death Seal!" Madara howled in despair as he felt his soul being ripped out of his body, and absorbed into the Death God. "I'll kill you all," he howled as his body dissolved to ashes. Kurenai smiled shakily, and then dropped to the floor, dead._

_*Flashback end*_

Shikamaru winced as he remembered the note she had left him, leaving him as the guardian of her child and making sure he would pass his "Will of Fire" down to him. Tsunade continued "I need you to go and examine it. Close it if you can, but you need to be careful of the natural energy it is exerting. Atsushi, show them your arm." He held his arm out to reveal that the skin on the underneath had been turned to stone. Tsunade now looked distressed. "The previous time that this has happened, there have major historical impact. Please make sure to handle this; we can't deal with this so soon after a major war. Now, all of you leave!" They all obliged straight away, apart from Naruto who lingered behind for a second to look at her, before he too left.

The forest surrounding the presence was twisted and burnt. The trees had grown away from the natural energy surge, and once Sasuke had removed the genjutsu, it seemed to be a rippling blue. Waves of natural energy poured off of it, which Naruto was currently absorbing to prevent his teammates from coming to any harm. "Hmmm," he said, "The energy coming off of this is nothing like I have ever felt before. I wonder..?" he created a shadow clone and sent it towards the opening, only for it to be ripped apart by a claw of chakra when it came close. They all stepped back and readied themselves as a figure shrouded in a cloak of dark chakra emerged, followed by three humanoid foot soldiers.

"Well well well, I wasn't expecting a welcome party," a low voice growled before he lunged towards them.

Hello! Thanks for reading, and even if you didn't like it, could you leave a review saying what you didn't like so I can improve my story!


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